What are you playing now? [Chat + Discussions]

[paperfist]

Haha, I picked up Humankind Odyssey too after seeing someone play it in a YouTube video, but I hated the keyboard controls (I did see a gamepad was recommended, but I haven't tried it with my Xbox controller yet) so I only played it for an hour or so. Need to revisit it with a controller.

Ah, I wouldn't say Tarkov is necessarily "technical" (and it depends exactly what you mean by that). There's no crosshairs or remaining round counts or specific health level, sounds are extremely important (to tell where others are), damage requires you to address it via bandage/splint/painkillers, you must manually reload magazines by loading them bullet-by-bullet (just drag-and-drop your ammo over the mag), guns can be extremely and realistically modified and taken apart, damage is quite realistic (one shot head shots; shots to extremeties can disable them; etc).

But there's isn't really a ton of stuff to learn, just some basics. I just think it's difficult (even the AI enemies are brutal IMO) and the biggest thing is learning the maps. I think once you get familiar with a map you'll do much better on it. That's my two cents, being a noob. "Jesse Kazam" (and I'm told "Pestily") on YouTube have good beginner videos explaining things. It's a steep learning curve but I think it can be rewarding.

It's kind of a weird game input wise. It's a PC exclusive, but KB/Mouse isn't the recommended way to play. Maybe I'm just old.

I've been playing it with a keyboard and it does take a little while to get used to because keys have dual functions, but it seems like once you get over that it's not so hard. Combat was a little tricky to get the hang of since you start off with a dodge that might not be a dodge at all. I dunno know what it is about the game, but it feels like GOTY to me.

I guess by technical I mean Counter Strike, elite kind of players and the shooting controls are not forgiving.

I'll have to check that out, but there seems to be an endless amount of great games out/coming out. There's no vehicle in Tarkov right? That would be a refreshing change.

 

[clamum]

It's kind of a weird game input wise. It's a PC exclusive, but KB/Mouse isn't the recommended way to play. Maybe I'm just old.

I've been playing it with a keyboard and it does take a little while to get used to because keys have dual functions, but it seems like once you get over that it's not so hard. Combat was a little tricky to get the hang of since you start off with a dodge that might not be a dodge at all. I dunno know what it is about the game, but it feels like GOTY to me.

I guess by technical I mean Counter Strike, elite kind of players and the shooting controls are not forgiving.

I'll have to check that out, but there seems to be an endless amount of great games out/coming out. There's no vehicle in Tarkov right? That would be a refreshing change.

I haven't played Counter-Strike in years, but I used to play a ton of it back in high school (late 90s). I never thought the shooting controls were anything but straight forward and simple but I suppose everyone has a different impression of things.

Nope, no vehicles in Tarkov. I'm not sure of the player base, as far as ability goes. I'm sure there's plenty of great people with good gear, but there's plenty of shit players like myself too. I kinda wish there was a matchmaking system in it, but there isn't. I don't think many people in the Tarkov community have a favorable view of a matchmaking system (I've heard it mentioned before, dunno if the devs have said it was coming or not) but I kinda like the idea. I guess it's like almost every thing; spend enough time and practice with it and you'll get better.

I just gotta say, thank God for the Scav Mode though (and there's an offline mode which is nice). You can play as one of the normally AI-controlled Scavs and start out with random (usually lower quality) gear, and anything you manage to take out of the raid you get to keep and transfer to your main PMC character. If you die, you don't lose anything (as opposed to with your main PMC character, when you die you lose the gear you took into the raid).

One thing I have noticed recently while watching YT videos on Tarkov, is that you don't want to necessarily start a fight with every single guy that you see. I was watching Pestily play a raid in Labs and was struck how he just let this one guy run right past him, I'm guessing because he was only armed with a pistol and figured it would be suicide to take on the guy. Normally in FPS games you blast everything that moves, but that's probably not the smart thing to do in Tarkov.

 

[gerald95]

Don't really have too much time to play multiple games. Sometimes even don't have any time to play at all but now I am getting back into Path of Exile again. Really love this game and with upcoming PoE2 couldn't be more hyped to play this game. So there's that.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Working through the campaign of C&C 3 Tiberium Wars.

Although EA completely screwed up the balance and difficulty of the campaign with their last MP patch many years ago, the game is definitely scratching that RTS itch. Never beat the game before because I would always get log-jammed at an early mission (Alexandria for GDI) but now I've figured out its because I was playing the game like a Blizzard RTS, not what it is.

Finished the GDI campaign (good ending), now working my way through the Nod campaign. I know there is a short 3rd campaign to play though as well.

Love the live action cutscenes with the who's who of the early 2000's sci-fi channel cast, the campy acting, and that sweet sweet feeling of neutering the enemy then slowly mopping up the remaining forces at your leisure in that relaxing, meditative kind of way only RTS games can.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

I'm also playing, but not sure I'll continue, Return to Castle Wolfenstein (the 2001 Wolf). I'm only on the second level, but man this game's campaign has aged like milk.

Maybe I was just expecting a different kind of game, but this feels like a half-assed sneak shooter that quickly devolves into all out combat the instant an enemy soldier catches sight of the corner of your shoe from 3 miles away in the rain.

Gunplay generally involves activating the alarm, ducking behind a door, and waiting for all enemies in the area to come marching in single file line to be gunned down. Otherwise, if you're caught in the open, the hitscan type enemies means that no amount of movement is going to keep you from being riddled by a hail of bullets. Its just not fun.

The scant few levels I've seen so far are also maze-like, samey, and not very fun to navigate.

Its a little crazy to me that this game is considered a classic when Valve's Half-life came out 3 years earlier but plays just as well today as it did back then. Within the same series, The Old Blood and The New Order are huge steps up in terms of basically everything.

 

[IronWing]

Playing The House of Da Vinci, a puzzle game much like The Room except painfully linear. The artwork is good but the mechanisms are so-so and the game play is boring. It was on sale so not a huge loss.

 

[mopardude87]

Friend got me a copy of COD:WW2 so we can play Nazi zombies. I played it a tiny bit but apparently there is something completely new with Zombies where you need to level up to gain levels and all this non sense? She plays a particular map that is currently locked for me. So i guess today and this week i will put more time into that. The multiplayer experience feels exactly the same as every other COD except this here level 1 got immediately pitted against level 50+ but i did ok even if the first few minutes was me non stop dying to spawn campers . I blame possibly a partially dead game? COD games have a expiration date that slightly outlasts a gallon of milk and if you miss the first few months you prob missed all the action the game offers. You get stuck only in death match which does not surprise me even a bit. Insanity is repeating the same thing over and over and expecting different results. This is my fourth older COD so yeah the formula is down.

I did get through some of the campaign and its certainly exciting at times but some of the mechanics like the counter knife really annoy me. I blinked a few times and apparently missed the key i had to press while doing that weird thing with the mouse and it gets me killed. Like every other COD i will prob mess around with the bots a bit, get familiar with the maps and try a bit more multiplayer then play more zombies. Not exactly expecting longevity with this game, its COD where you pay for those yearly dlc updates.

 

[SMOGZINN]

Playing The House of Da Vinci, a puzzle game much like The Room except painfully linear. The artwork is good but the mechanisms are so-so and the game play is boring. It was on sale so not a huge loss.

That is sad to hear. I've never found anything else even close to The Room in graphics and quality. It would be nice if there were some more quality games of it's type.

 

[EXCellR8]

Currently juggling The Outer Worlds, Borderlands 3, SW Fallen Order and NFS Heat. I'm certainly not bored as of late.

Getting my money's worth out of this hardware, that's for sure.

 

[Fenixgoon]

Shadows: Awakening. A slower ARPG with a nice take on a party system. Artwork is well done, but skill/attack sounds could use some improvement. I haven't paid a ton of attention to the story, since it's an ARPG

Will be playing the hell out of Darksiders: Genesis over the weekend after it releases on Thursday.

 

[clamum]

About all I'm playing currently is Escape from Tarkov a couple hours a week. I was playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare too but I haven't played that for a few weeks now that I'm getting more into Tarkov.

Been meaning to pick up RDR2 again but for some reason just haven't. I actually haven't gotten very far into it, just to the point where you moved camp into that woodsy area and you have a full camp to go around to and interact with for the first time (a couple hours or so into the game). Fail

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Dropped Return to Castle Wolfenstein, just wasn't having fun with the game. Completely changed gears and started playing Firewatch.

The game starts really slowly, and I wasn't really sure I was going to enjoy it at first. The story does start developing some mystery to it with a lure to keep you going forward.

For anyone out there wondering: its a genre of game that some call a "walking simulator" where as far as I can tell there is absolutely no combat and really no way to die (the game doesn't even let you walk off cliffs, for example). The game is very chill in tone and pace, the fun of it comes from playing through a sort of interactive novel where the plot is driven by walking around and your conversation with someone through a two way radio.

Screenshots also don't do this game justice. At its highest settings the game is stunningly beautiful thanks to its trademark visual aesthetic. I am happy to see the gaming world moving away from hyper-realistic settings to these more surreal escapes (it certainly seems like more games are trying to stand out from the crowd by adopting a clean but decidedly colorful style).

My understanding is the game is relatively short as well, clocking in at less than 10 hours to experience the whole thing, which is nice for my play-when-I-can schedule.

 

[mohit9206]

Terminator Resistance and Yakuza 0. Will start Halo Reach soon

 

[rivethead]

I just finished Borderlands 2 with most of the DLC (the Handsome Jack collection). Over 200 hrs into the game. Which is remarkable because for years I dismissed it due to the comic-y art style which I just didn't like. My 20 year old son kept telling me to play it - it's a blast and the art style will really grow on me if I play it. Damn. He was so right. Guess I should listen to my kids more often.

With that behind me, I'm playing Grid 2 and loving it (depsite sucking at racing - I made a thread on that - but I am improving).

I'm also playing the Bards Tale IV - Directors Cut. The Bard Tale IV had a horrible release in 2018 but after a few patches it was a fantastic game. In fact, it's top 5 all time for me and definitely the best game I played in 2018. The Directors Cut version fixes some things I thought were weak - primarily a broken economy (you amassed more gold than you could spend about half way through the game) and some devilishly hard puzzles (you know have an "ability" that you can use to bypass some puzzles). Plus they added content (a new dungeon/story arch), polish, and quality of life improvements. Honestly, when MSFT bought InXile, I figured the game would be abandonded. Exactly the opposite happened.

And last night I bought Grim Dawn for $5 - an ARPG I've had my eye on for a long time. I think I'm set for quite awhile.

 

[IronWing]

I just finished Gorogoa, a very nice, peaceful puzzle game.

 

[IronWing]

I'm playing The Eyes of Ara, another puzzle game. It's pretty good.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Currently playing Transistor, about 4 hours in.

Enjoying it so far, lets see what happens...

 

[mopardude87]

Got kind of desperate looking on steam for free to play games and yay i found Destiny 2 on there. Been messing around with it and actually liking the co-op fireteam stuff. Not exactly sure what the mode was called but it was dropping currency stuff, some weapons occasionally and i like taking on loads of enemies with a group it feels very rewarding.

Still very new in the game but its my first game to do a raid on. I remember my friend doing them on Runescape and it looked fun but the mechanics bored me to tears. Destiny seems like a happy medium and one i am glad i picked up.

 

[OCNewbie]

Subnautica again. I last played it sometime in 2017, before it was finished. The ending wasn't complete at that time, so I couldn't actually finish the game (though I did essentially complete all the content that was available then). To me, it doesn't have a high level of replayability (static map, story hasn't changed much), so I needed this 2+ year break for things to be interesting again. I'm getting fairly close to the actual ending now. I'm doing more base building now than I did before, and that has been kinda fun.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Currently getting started on a couple games to find the next thing I want to play. Started on Banished, which seems like a very chill city builder game, but also downloaded The Binding of Issac & Terreria to give those a go as well.

 

[EXCellR8]

Grabbed the Division 2 for cheap over the break... good game, basically no player base though. I've only done a handful of missions with one other player. Pretty sure you can have up to four.

At least it scales fairly well for solo play--but that's kind of besides the point. Loot system is kind of bs though... basically all the same weapons but just different levels as you move up.

 

[SMOGZINN]

Started playing Stardew Valley over the holidays. I wanted a low stress mindless game I could play on the big screen with a controller and just mindlessly unwind with. It has fit the bill exactly. I never expected that I would get so drawn into a game that is basically a farming simulator, but over the last 2 weeks I've played like 40 hours of the game.

The only real criticism I have of the game is the unfortunate save system. I understand that they are trying to reduce save scrumming, but come one, it is a farming simulator. Having to play out an entire day to be able to save is a bit annoying.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Playing Rage at the moment. The game is much, much better than it's general reputation, but could have been so much more if it just had a little more time in the oven.

 

[EXCellR8]

^the 2011 game? RAGE 2 came out over the summer and I must say that, even though it's mostly better than 2011's entry, it's still painfully dull. At least those explosions sound and look good. Basically just a lot of the same thing over and over; the characters are forgettable save for 1 or 2.

I'm hearing rumors that Horizon Zero Dawn might be coming to PC. So, if anyone hasn't played that on PS4, you might be in for a nice surprise. My guess would be 2021 though, if anything (or if the rumors even turn out to be true).

 

[Stg-Flame]

Not sure why they would release HZD for PC unless they are doing it for an upcoming reveal about a sequel. The game was great, but I honestly don't consider that something I would play on PC (unless there's a hefty modding community chomping at the bit).